The Security Applications of Temporal Compression Seals
by Zoe324
Summary: A 'Dreaming of Sunshine' spinoff. During the summoning scroll retrieval mission for Sasuke, Team 7's mission luck hits with a vengeance in the form of an unusual security seal.
1. Chapter 1

AN: After reading everyone's brilliant spinoffs of Dreaming of Sunshine, I decided to try my hand at it. This story follows DOS until Ch 107, where it diverges during the summon scroll mission for Sasuke.

The Security Applications of Temporal Compression Seals

part i of ?

oOo

Jounin Hatake Kakashi was having a good day. He was on a mission (a simple C-rank scroll retrieval mission) with solid intelligence of its location (an old Uchiha clan base/storage facility within the Land of Fire) and the surrounding security measures (clan records helpfully provided by Sasuke) accompanied by one of his cute little genin. It would be great opportunity, he decided, for some bonding time with one and only female student as well as a chance to introduce her to the fine ninja art of breaking and entering (followed by the equally important steps of retrieving and exiting.)

Branches passed under his feet as he leaped from tree to tree towards the old Uchiha clan outpost. It was about as perfect a set up as possible for the retrieval of a scroll from a secured location, he mused. There would be not other shinobi to avoid, they had accurate information about both the layout and security features of the building and permission from the owner of said scrolls for their retrieval. In fact, Sasuke had thoughtfully donated chakra (currently being stored in one of Shikako's chakra stone research projects) to help them past any Uchiha security features that required more than the Sharingan to bypass. Really, he thought, with such preparations there was no reason for anything to go wrong on such a simple mission.

oOo

Unfortunately for Jounin Hatake Kakashi, there were two very important factors he did not take into account for this mission.

The first factor was a security flaw that he himself had revealed to the Uchiha clan. With Nohara Rin's successful transplantation of Uchiha Obito's left eye into Hatake Kakashi, there was now a non-clan Sharingan user. In addition to now having access to the clan's kekkei genkai, Hatake could now theoretically access a number of secure Uchiha faculties and tightly held clan secrets whose security measures centered on the Sharingan. Dojutsu thieves in the past had been hunted down and killed; but as a fellow Konoha shinobi, Hatake was safe from such retributions. Once negotiations for the implanted eye's return failed, the Uchiha scrambled to revise clan security measures and develop new ones. The clan felt no need to inform the barely tolerated non-Uchiha Sharingan holder about clan-specific security updates; especially to outposts he had no business being at.

The second of these was that, as wife of the Uchiha clan head and accomplished kunoichi, Uchiha Mikoto had been consulted about improvements to the security of a number of clan holdings, including this particular outpost. Mikoto knew that any shinobi seeking to break into clan holdings would expect Uchiha style security measures, such as traps and hidden compartments only detectable to the Sharingan, and plan accordingly. Which is why she recruited her personal friend and seal user Uzumaki Kushina to help her develop new security measures for clan outposts.

oOo

It is widely acknowledged by shinobi that there is no such thing as a perfect security set up. Eventually someone is going to break into somewhere they shouldn't be by either finding a way to defeat the security measures in place or by developing a technique isn't accounted for. One method of countering this is to have unaccounted for traps or levels of security in addition to what is expected or recorded to be in place. Additionally, if a break-in occurs, steps should be taken to ensure that the trespasser does not get away cleanly or make it so they can be tracked down easily.

Or at least, this was the rational Kushina proposed to Mikoto for the temporal compression security seals she had designed.

"It's brilliant dattebane!" gushed Kushina, "The seal not only compresses the chakra and physical bodies of the trespasser down to a preset temporal point, but the compression of both of these at once will block their most recent memories. And really Mikoto-chan, which would you rather track down: an adult shinobi who just got in and out of a secure location or a baby ninja who has no idea where they are or how they got there?"

Uchiha Mikoto privately considered a seal that turned adults into children to be an oddly convoluted method of improving security; but she nevertheless incorporated the seal into several clan hideouts containing weapons, seal scrolls and other items of value. The temporal compression seal was attached to a sensor that was triggered by the presence of a signature of several chakra-containing items of importance and the corresponding lack of an Uchiha clan member chakra signature.

oOo

The breaking and entering portion of the scroll retrieval mission progressed without a hitch. In Kakashi's professional opinion (shaped by many years of experience in breaking onto facilities similar to this), the stronghold's security was a shining example of ninja paranoia at its finest. The Uchiha clan outpost had a variety of security measures from traps to hidden rooms only detectable by the Sharingan to a mislabeled air tight room filled with toxic gas. Fortunately, all of the security features between them and the summoning scrolls were easily disabled or avoidable with a combination of wits, borrowed Uchiha chakra and the Sharingan.

Really, Kakashi thought, he should remember to thank Sasuke for such a wonderful learning opportunity. Not only was this an excellent chance to demonstrate for Shikako some useful life skills, but his adorable student was also using this excursion as a field test of her chakra storage stone project.

With the retrieval successfully completed, they made their way back to the outpost entrance resetting traps as they went. Kakashi was restringing the trigger to a basic kunai launcher above the front entrance when he noticed two things: that the Uchiha chakra was no longer being emitted from the storage stones he and Shikako had in their pockets and that there was a seal beneath their feet that was rapidly gathering chakra for some no doubt nefarious purpose. Judging by her wide eyes, Shikako had also noticed the seal activating but was staring down at the ground, frozen in shock.

Kakashi had a split second to run everything through his head. Shikako was standing closer to the edge of the seal than he was, and really, what kind of sensei would he be if he allowed one of his precious students to get hit by a mysterious security seal? So in the moment before it activated, Kakashi darted forward and pushed his student out of the seal. He saw her hit the ground outside the seal before there was a feeling of crushing pressure and he blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2

The Security Applications of Temporal Compression Seals

Part ii of ?

An unexpected push propelled Shikako from the suddenly activating seal, causing her rear to hit the ground on the dusty path outside the Uchiha clan outpost. As she caught herself, Shikako could feel the seal snap into effect around Kakashi-sensei's chakra, squeezing and pushing it down until it was much smaller than normal.

Blinking away the smoke from the activation of the seal, Shikako squinted at the form lying on the ground. It was certainly Kakashi-sensei, the diminished chakra signature and silvery hair were unmistakable, but his dimensions seemed off. As the smoke dissipated further, Shikako's breath caught in her throat. Pushing down her panic, Shikako deliberately cleared her mind, took a deep breath and leaned forward for a closer look. Not only were the limbs of Kakashi-sensei's uniform partially unfilled but also the jounin vest was much too loose.

Shikako pushed herself up off her knees and walked around the perimeter of the seal until she could get a clear view of Kakashi-sensei's face.

Well, shit.

The shinobi lying on the ground still within the confines of the seal was without a doubt Hatake Kakashi, but much, much smaller than he should be. Shikako bit her lip, drawing in a deep breath through her nose as she took in suddenly changed familiar features. Kakashi's face was much rounder, the childish chub of his cheeks now filling out a mask that was in danger of slipping down a smaller nose. His headband was also loose around his skull and Shikako doubted she would find a scar or Sharingan under it.

Exhaling slowly, Shikako reluctantly turned her attention away from her tiny sensei to the security seal that caused all of this. She could discern the defined area of effect boundary, the chakra-sensing trigger and the multisection seal effect specifier. A shiver ran down her back to her sinking stomach as Shikako continued to read the seal. She could see specifiers that contained indicators for both physical and chakra effects as well as the distinct spiral elements of the classical Uzumaki sealing style instead of the Konoha style she was more familiar with.

It seemed that whatever effect the seal was intended to create had occurred, but the seal trigger was still primed, so Shikako did not want to come in contact with the seal at all. Moving around the seal to take advantage of the early afternoon sun, Shikako carefully sent her shadow into the seal. When the seal trigger did not react to the chakra infused shadow, she expanded the shadow off the ground to hook around Kakashi and carefully drag him out. Neither the shadows nor removing Kakashi set off the seal again, but once the summon scroll in his vest passed the edge of the seal, it began to fade away. Eyes darting over to the unconscious but steadily breathing form of her teammate, Shikako reached back into her pack and pulled out her notebook to copy down as much of the seal as possible.

After the seal faded beyond legibility, Shikako turned her attention to the shrunken jounin. A quick medical check revealed nothing physically wrong besides the obvious decrease in stature, but his chakra levels were lower and somewhat denser than she expected.

Shikako sealed away most of Kakashi-sensei's equipment, leaving his vest with various sealing and summoning scrolls to be packed in her bag that was now slung across her chest. She then bent down and carefully tugged Kakashi on to her back, arranging his arms over her shoulders and tucking her forearms under his boney knees. Straightening from her crouch, Shikako jogged to the tree line. The carry position she was using sacrificed response time for the security of the passenger, a concession she was luckily able to make with them being in the relatively friendly territory of the Land of Fire.

oOo

Chunin Hatake Kakashi was not having a good day. He didn't know where he was (Hashirama tree pollen suggested the Land of Fire near Konoha) or whom he was with (the person carrying him was female, adolescent and a shinobi, but her scent and chakra signature were unknown to him) or how he had gotten there (he remembered training in Konoha with Minato-sensei but he couldn't recall leaving the village.) It would appear, Kakashi concluded, that he was potentially the subject of an attempted abduction at worst or had received a head injury in the field at best (unlikely, none of the other symptoms of a concussion were present).

He kept his body loose and relaxed so not to tip off the ninja carrying him as he took note of his situation. He was being carried on the kunoichi's back, however his hands were unbound (he pushed down a wave of irritation; a shinobi must always take advantage of an enemy's underestimation) and draped over her shoulders while his head was leaning in the crook of her neck. Her arms were supporting his legs, keeping her from quickly forming hand seals (a possible weakness for him to exploit.) He was not wearing any of his weapons pouches, typical mission clothing or even shinobi sandals. The kunoichi had been moving rapidly through the trees, leaping with skill common to Konoha shinobi, but she was slowing and, with a chakra cushioned jump, landed on the ground.

Kakashi realized that he had unintentionally tipped off the kunoichi and gave up the pretense of being unconscious to make a grab for the weapons pouch on her thigh that his bare feet had brushed. His hand closed around the handle of a kunai as the kunoichi yelped and dropped him to the ground. He rolled through the leaf litter and sprang to his feet away from the kunoichi, studying his opponent.

She was in her early teens and had a fairly average appearance (no unique hair or eye colors or markings tying her to a clan.) Kakashi observed that she was wearing both a Konoha headband and the Nara clan crest on her left upper arm, but still did not let down his guard. It was possible that she was an infiltrator and was maintaining her disguise to avoid the attention of patrols. The kunoichi stayed in place and refrained from drawing any weapons nor did she start running a sequence of hand seals for a ninjutsu.

Keeping the swiped kunai in a guard position, Kakashi quickly scanned the small break between the trees (no detectable traps or any other signs of recent human activity) they were facing off in. Given this appeared to be an unplanned stop in response to him waking up, he doubted the kunoichi had had a chance to alter the surroundings to her advantage. His focus snapped back to her when she began speaking.

oOo

Shikako was about four hours out from Konoha when she felt Kakashi's chakra started to stir. She slowed when his chakra flow shifted from the steady hum of unconsciousness to the rapid flicker of awareness. Spotting a small clearing scattered with piles of leaves up ahead, she jumped forward, using chakra to offset the jolt from landing. Intending to set Kakashi down before he fully woke up, Shikako was caught off guard when he snagged a kunai from her weapons pouch.

Dropping her passenger kept her from getting a kunai to the back, but any hope of explaining things calmly evaporated as Kakashi sprang to his feet several meters away armed with her kunai. Shikako aborted the reflexive draw of her own kunai and raised her hands up and away from the center of her body as she watched Kakashi's eyes scan her and dart around the clearing they landed in.

Now that he was awake and moving, Shikako registered details about his appearance: no scar and no Sharingan, the physical appearance of about eight or nine years old, a practiced defensive stance and a lack of panic despite waking up in an unknown situation. The sinking feeling in her stomach grew as her jounin-sensei showed no signs of recognizing her. It was a long shot with the elements scripted out in the security seal, but part of her had hoped that the change had only been physical, that her teacher would have still remembered her.

 _And this is going to be so much fun to try and explain_ , Shikako thought as she started speaking, drawing the shrunken shinobi's attention.

"Hatake Kakashi? My name is Nara Shikako and I am a Special Jounin of Konoha. We were on a mission earlier and you were affected and knocked out by a security seal. It's about four more hours to the village from here."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed suspiciously, but he did not try to attack or escape, so Shikako took that as a victory and a sign to continue.

"The thing is this morning you were," Shikako paused, searching for words, before continuing, "and I know this is hard to believe, but you were significantly older. Like you're my jounin-sensei older."

Kakashi's incredulous stare communicated to Shikako exactly what he thought about her claims. With a wince, she shrugged, still holding both hands up empty and too far apart for hand seals.

"I know you don't trust a single work that comes out of my mouth, but would you listen to someone you know?" Shikako asked after a tense silence.

"Who are you suggesting we ask?" Kakashi finally snapped, "We're the only people around for miles."

"How about your ninkin summons?" Shikako suggested. Keeping her movements slow and obvious, Shikako unslung the bag from across her front. Opening the clasp, she lifted it from the bottom and shook the contents onto the leaves at her feet; her sensei's vest plopped out along with scrolls from the Uchiha compound. Shikako maintained eye contact with the displaced chunin as she leaned over and with two fingers flicked open the right scroll holder and pulled out a familiar scroll.

If anything, Kakashi glared harder at the revelation that the unknown kunoichi had his summoning scroll, but readily plucked it out of the air when she tossed it to him. Pricking his thumb with the kunai, he reluctantly set it down to run through an often-used set of hand seals and slammed his hand down on the ground. Shikako saw the bloom of the summoning seal before it was obscured with a cloud of smoke that cleared to reveal a small pug.

"Yo, boss..." Pakkun raised his paw for his typical greeting but trailed off when he glimpsed his younger than expected summoner. Kakashi also swept his eyes over the changes in his ninkin's appearance: the solidness of maturity instead oversized puppy paws, the additional wrinkles and the few gray hairs around his muzzle. Shikako could see Kakashi biting his lip underneath the fabric of his mask and the faint furrow between his brow before she broke the stare off between the boy and his dog.

"Pakkun, would you verify that I am a Special Jounin of Konoha and that Kakashi has been...affected by some sort of temporal alteration seal?"

Pakkun huffed, breaking his stare off with Kakashi to answer Shikako's questions, "Yeah, that girl really is one of your students and you really did get shrunk boss."

Pakkun's endorsement of Shikako was followed by a rapid back and forth of twenty year old security codes and questions that made Shikako incredibly grateful for her stint in Cryptology as well as a discrete genjutsu dispersal attempts. Fortunately, Pakkun's word, her knowledge of past security codes and the lack of genjutsu was enough to convince the chunin to at least tentatively hear her out. Shikako's proposed plan of returning to Konoha immediately was met with a nod and nonverbal noise of agreement.

Pausing before she suggested they start out to the Hidden Village, Shikako took in the mask in danger of sliding down Kakashi's nose, the now too long shirt reaching past his knees and the spare bandages from her pack he was wrapping around his feet and considered the travel before them and the chaos their return would bring.

"We could…stop and get some shoes? On our way to Konoha, I mean."

oOo

Kakashi slipped stealthily through the trees, following the lead of the Special Jounin and masking his presence as much as possible. So far she was acting in line with her stated plan of returning to Konoha and they continued to move in the direction of the hidden village (a shinobi must anticipate the unstated goals of others). Kakashi's eyes narrowed as he watched the back of the Nara ahead of him as he pondered her claims. The idea that a seal had changed him from an adult to a child was far fetched, but so far the evidence seemed to point to her preposterous claim being true. When they reached the upcoming town he would have to do some reconnaissance (a shinobi always confirms intelligence from multiple sources when possible.)

It was nearing dinnertime when Shikako and Kakashi reached one of the civilian towns surrounding Konoha. Kakashi used a henge to change the color of his hair and the appearance of the oversized shirt he was wearing into a kimono at the Shikako's request to keep from drawing attention (a shinobi should be able to blend into a crowd and be entirely unremarkable and forgettable.) As promised, they stopped briefly to pick up some better fitting clothing and shinobi style sandals to replace the bandages Kakashi had used to protect his feet.

While Shikako was distracted paying for the clothing, Kakashi ducked into the back of the store and checked the calendar posted there. Above the scribbled in work shifts and days requested off, the printed date was roughly two decades later than he was expecting it to be. Frowning, he slipped back to the front end of the store and pretended to be examining the scarf display on the back wall.

Shikako walked over to him, passing over the bag of clothing, and said "I want us back in Konoha before nightfall. After you change we will get something to eat and be on our way."

Kakashi nodded in response to her orders, taking in the signs of stress in her voice and tight pinch of her lips. Returning to the village before nightfall would be possible if they left quickly and made no more stops. She seemed paranoid about being waylaid on their way back to Konoha with her insistence on traveling with stealth techniques and using disguises in populated areas. Kakashi wondered who she was worried about intercepting them (a shinobi must always be mindful of the worries and fears of those around them).

They stopped to grab dinner at one of the food stands along the main road. On their way to dinner and while eating, Kakashi checked the date on each of the newspapers he came across with subtle glances and peeks out of the corners of his eyes. A sinking sensation began building in his stomach when all of them concurred with the same date about twenty years off from what he was expecting it to be.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Well, getting this chapter out took me over a year; which is way longer than I thought it would be. So to my wonderful readers: I am sorry for the long wait and want to reassure you that I do not post a story without having an ending plotted out. It may take a while, but I am dedicated to (eventually) completing this story.

I also wanted to thank everyone who has left a review. Your encouragement of and excitement about this story really mean a lot to me and I appreciate each and every review I've gotten.

Content Warnings: DOS-canon levels of mental speculation and political plotting by shinobi, Profanity

A list of possibly triggering situations in this chapter that pertain to the plot or that may contain spoilers are at the very bottom of the page if you wish to scroll down and check before reading this chapter.

The Security Applications of Temporal Compression Seals

Part iii of ?

oOo

Shikako was hyper aware of both her surroundings and her shrunken sensei as they slipped through the trees to Konoha. Underneath her mission focus was an increasing buzz of new potential problems. Her thoughts careened from _how are we going to reverse the seal on sensei? is it permanent? are there any side effects?_ to _what is the hokage going to do now that one of her top jounin is under ten? what will happen if any of the other villages find out?_

Shikako mentally forced herself to stop the surge of questions and start formulating plans for the ones she could tackle. Her medical check was cursory at best, but they were headed to the best medic in the Elemental Nations, so if there were any medical complications, they were headed towards the best person to handle them. Tsunade-sama was not slouch when it came to seals; hopefully with the notes she had taken on the seal that had caused all of this there would be a solution for unraveling the seal. Something in Shikako's gut clenched at the tiny negative voice that this change was permanent and she would never get here late, lazy teacher who was so so proud of her and her team back.

As for Tsunade-sama's reaction, well, she supposed should would find out about that in person soon enough. It would likely contain at least a few curse words, demands for sake, dirty looks in her direction and probably some thinly veiled punishment assignment since the Hokage was probably not over her upending logistics recently either.

The thought of what would happen if information about Kakashi-sensei's condition spread internationally send an almost completely disguised shiver down her spine. As one of the famous jounin of Konoha, Kakashi-sensei had no shortage of enemies both personal and political who would be quick to exact revenge on his younger self. Aside from those seeking vengeance, Shikako's teacher had a sizable bounty on his head, enough to draw plenty of hunters now that it would not be an instant death sentence to go after the internationally famous assassin. In addition, as the last member of the Hatake clan, a younger Kakashi would be the best chance for a kekkei genkai thief to get their hands on his family's bloodline limit.

Another string of potential fears wove through her mind as Shikako tried to anticipate what reception they would face when they reached Konoha. Right now, Kakashi was young, malleable, devoted to the rules and his bright potential undoubtedly confirmed with his twenty year service career; in short, a great catch for any group that could get their hands on him. Forget bounty hunters or any of the other hidden villages, Root was deeply interwoven into the foundations of their village and without a doubt would be interested in folding an impressionable Kakashi into their ranks and have ample opportunity to do it if she was not careful. The cold sweat that broke out on Shikako's back was not a product of her leaping through the trees but of the memory of being waylaid at the gates after the Gelel mission.

As they arrived within familiar territory and were almost within sight of the village gates, Shikako called for a stop with a hand signal. Kakashi complied silently, but the line of tension in his shoulders revealed his unease with the unanticipated stop right before they reached the village.

"When we get to the village gates, we are going to sign in and go straight to the Hokage. No stopping for anyone, no matter who they are or what they say. Do you understand?" Shikako's gaze was sharp and her voice hard, the tone leaving no room for arguments.

Kakashi was silent for a moment, taking in the Nara's sudden command presence as opposed to the softer touch she had displayed previously, before nodding in agreement.

With Kakashi's assent, Shikako squared her shoulders and determinedly marched on the ground the rest of the way to the gate guard station.

oOo

"So how did...your mission go…" Kotetsu trailed off as he caught sight of a prepubescent Hatake Kakashi trailing behind a mission serious Nara Shikako as she strode purposefully up to his guard station. The kunoichi was already pulling their passes from her flack jacket and presented them to him without her usual friendly greetings.

Kotetsu accepted the offered passes automatically and started filling out the mission return paperwork distractedly, his attention drifting over to the small form of one of Konoha's legendary ninja. Two narrowed dark eyes met his when Kotetsu glanced over in disbelief at the jounin's appearance. An experienced shinobi's alarm in the back of his mind began blaring at Kakashi's continued unfriendly lack of recognition and his pen stopped scribbling characters on the paperwork beneath his hand. Hatake's chakra was unmistakable and his form and features, while the wrong age, matched Kotetsu's childhood memories. _Surely no one would try to sneak into a Hidden Village disguised as a child version of one of their most recognizable shinobi? And,_ he examined Nara as well, _escorted by one of the village's rapidly rising kunoichi promoted for her sensory abilities?_

"There were...complications. We need to go see the Hokage immediately." A subtle pulse of intent accompanied Shikako's sharp command, an unspoken prompt to finish signing the two shinobi in.

A weighty pause hovered between the two, before Kotetsu finished signing the two adolescent shinobi in and handed Nara the passes back. With a sharp nod and a slight of hand tucking the paperwork away, Nara Shikako aimed herself at the Hokage Tower and marched briskly away from the gate, a silent Hatake Kakashi shadowing her. As soon as they were swallowed up by the evening crowds, Kotetsu activated the silent Anbu alarm for possible infiltrators under his desk.

oOo

Senju Tsunade sat at her desk and had spent the day waiting for something to go wrong. While she had given up many of her well-known vices, the current Hokage still preferred to start her day with a spiked cup of tea and a lotto ticket whenever possible. This morning's winning scratch-off sat propped up against a stack of financial audits and proceeded to mock the Legendary Sucker all day long. Tsunade felt the stress knot between her shoulders grow as the hours passed and she waited for the other trap to spring.

Shortly after dinner, a welcome interruption from the mountains of paperwork came in the form of the chunin secretary knocking on her office door to announce the return of Hatake and Nara from their scroll retrieval mission. However, a combination of the chunin's gob smacked expression and the request from Nara for an in-person debriefing sent her instincts screaming that the trap had been sprung. Tsunade felt the lump of tension that had been taking up space in her stomach start to gain weight because a simple C-level retrieval mission that most certainly did not merit a debriefing with the Hokage.

Her suspicions were confirmed when a tense Nara Shikako was followed into her office by a much too short Hatake Kakashi. Looking at one of her best jounin in miniature, Tsunade swore.

oOo

Supporting her face with a perfectly manicured and deadly hand, the Godaime Hokage pinched the bridge of her nose to ward off the upcoming headache and took a calming breath. Slapping her hand down on her desk with a small pop, she snapped, "I know all I authorized you to do was retrieve a scroll from a clan compound with the approval of said clan. So Nara, care to explain how the hell you came back with a brat instead of your jounin-sensei?"

The Special Jounin held her composure well, Tsunade noted as the girl started to relay her report. She slowly _tapped, tapped, tapped_ her fingernail as she listened to Nara go over the mission from when they left to village, their journey to the Uchiha clan compound and their investigation and recovery of the scroll once inside. Absently, Tsunade noticed herself stop tapping when Nara described the security seal that Hatake had been caught in and the beginning of their return to Konoha. After listening to Nara's account of Hatake's awakening post-seal, she turned her attention to the shrunken shinobi.

"Name, rank and registration number," Tsunade ordered, her focus now on Kakashi, "and how old you think you are and the last date you remember."

"Hatake Kakashi. Chunin. 009720." The prompt response was accompanied by a professional posture and respectful tone not often seen in the adult Hatake, "I am eight years old and I last recall it being late summer in the 29th year of the Sandaime Hokage."

These were the first in a series of questions the Godaime Hokage quizzed the temporally displaced chunin on; ranging from older security codes ("Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash") to whom his mentor is ("Jounin Namikaze Minato"). After he answered the Hokage's queries to her satisfaction, she called him closer for an informal but thorough medical assessment. Her silence held sway over everyone's attention as the green glow faded from her hands.

"Hatake, report to the hospital immediately." Tsunade ordered, breaking the quiet tension, "Shizune, I want you to start on a full physical and chakra work up; I want you to especially take a look at that eye. Send someone with the clearance to go pull Hatake's _full_ medical file and see if you can verify a physical age match with the scar history. I'll be joining you soon."

"And Shizune?" Tsunade added, grabbing her apprentice's attention at the door as the corners of her mouth twitched smugly upwards, "Make sure to take plenty of pictures, it's important that we properly document this unique medical anomaly."

oOo

Shikako could see Tsunade-sama fighting to keep the smirk from spreading over her lips as she ordered Shizune to take thinly disguised blackmail photos. Judging by the glare coming from Kakashi, he had also picking up on this unsubtle hint, but a sense of decorum his older self had deliberately misplaced kept him from voicing his protests.

Having received her orders, Shizune subtly gestured for Kakashi to precede her out of the Hokage's office. Pausing long enough to give a regulation perfect bow to his superior officer, the chunin left without comment or acknowledgement of anyone else in the room.

Now Shikako and the Hokage were alone in her office, a fact that was not lost on the Special Jounin as the tension thrumming through her frame increased like a strand of ninja wire pulled taut.

 _This is it,_ Shikako thought as shifted her weight and braced herself for a chewing out with a simple retrieval mission having gone so badly.

oOo

Tsunade now turned her gaze on her single remaining shinobi in the room as the kunoichi braced herself for the dressing down she was expecting.

"Well done on taking field command Nara," judging from the wide eyes and sudden laxness of her shoulders, she had caught the girl off guard, "Having a mission leader be caught in such a unique and unforeseen type of security seal is not something you could have anticipated or prepared for. You showed commendable composure and foresight in copying down what you could of the seal and getting Hatake back to the village quickly and in one piece."

"That all being said," the Hokage continued, "I want you to go and inform Uchiha Sasuke that I need more details on the more... _esoteric_ security features his clan had in place at that outpost. Tell him I am expecting a verbal report within the next twenty-four hours on the non-documented security measures employed for this particular location; then report back to me at the hospital."

With a sharp, and obedient "Yes Hokage-sama," the Special Jounin bowed and silently slipped out of her office.

oOo

Senju Tsunade was doing her best to enjoy the evening cup of sake she was slipping past Shizune as the Hokage found herself with the dilemma of having to arrange a protection detail of one of her top jounin. Hatake Kakashi, who at eight years old was already a formidable ninja, was also in no way able to handle the threats his almost thirty-year-old self regularly faced. That was aside from the fact that no matter how skilled or mature, she didn't believe in leaving a child of interest unattended, temporally displaced or not. Especially considering the hints of some rogue elements subverting the village from within that Jiraiya had dug up.

Taking a sip, Tsunade reflected on what to do with now prepubescent Hatake Kakashi. This was not something she wanted to deal with with the current political situation both internationally and in the village. At least the perpetually late brat had timed it well enough that he would not be expected along the border by foreign intelligence agencies for a few weeks given his recent rotation out.

Even two decades ago Kakashi had already been a bit of a political lit explosive tag with his early graduation, then subsequent promotion and his father's high profile disgrace and suicide. As she thought back to the situation two decades ago, a snug expression grew on her face as she came up with just the perfect solution, or rather stole an idea from the past. After all, at this point in his life, wasn't Chunin Hatake Kakashi assigned by her sensei to the care and supervision of promising young Jounin and Jiraiya's sealing protégé Namikaze Minato? So who currently would be better to take care of him than the Jiraiya-trained sealing expert, fellow teammate and logistics-headache-causing Special Jounin Nara Shikako?

A public caretaker and defender now chosen, the Hokage turned her attention to the Anbu waiting silently in the shadowed corner of her office. Anbu agent Cat was a trusted and loyal operative as well as a personal friend and former teammate of Hatake and tonight's lucky responder to the possible intruder alarm at the village gates.

With a commanding gesture, Tsunade summoned Cat to her to hear his report. The Anbu agent flickered forward to kneel at attention before her and gave his report of the evening's events from responding to the alarm at the gates to observing Nara and Hatake on their way to the Hokage Tower to his impressions of their reports.

At the conclusion of Cat's observations, Tsunade asked, "I know sealing is not a specialty of yours and your only extended contact with the clan was when you were briefly on a team with Uchiha Itachi, but what is your opinion on the inclusion of this seal in the Uchiha clan security plan?"

"It is certainly an odd security feature to have, but it does makes sense in a twisted sort of way." Cat answered, "An eight year old is old enough to be able to identify themselves, their village and know some details but, unlike sempai, most don't have the necessary combat skill to protect themselves or to escape and evade capture."

The Hokage nodded in agreement, "While this seal would prevent you from getting details on the particular mission or reason to steal from the Uchiha clan, it certainly would make it easier to catch and identify a thief. Ideally, after restraining and identifying your thief, you would then be able to reverse the effects of the seal and obtain the pertinent details of the mission."

"If the seal is reversible…" The thoughtful silence broken by a hesitantly pessimistic Cat.

"It damn well better be reversible," muttered Tsunade, before she continued thinking aloud. "Getting a second set of twenty years of service from Hatake in his prime would be a boon, but I don't think it would outweigh the loss of all those years of experience and knowledge."

The Anbu agent didn't reply verbally, but his silence was obviously in agreement with her assertion. _Though_ , Tsunade mused, _he is probably a bit more individually concerned with the loss of a personal history and connection with Hatake_.

Tsunade took another contemplative sip of her sake, before setting the cup down with a soft _clink_ and straightening is her seat.

"Agent Cat," the shinobi's attention focused back on her when hearing the note of command in her voice, "I am assigning you to observe and guard Hatake Kakashi until the effects of this security seal have worn off. Chunin Hatake isn't considered a flight risk, but I am concerned about him being a high value kidnapping target. He is not to leave the village or the custody of the person I'm assigning him to."

Hearing his Hokage, Agent Cat froze like fresh genin on their first mission and Tsunade would have put money on his face going pale behind his mask. Rolling her eyes, she reassured the experienced Anbu.

"Don't worry Cat, Nara Shikako will get to deal with brat Hatake in all his eight year old glory. You just have to watch out for anything unsavory and make sure he doesn't disappear before we find a way to reverse this seal."

With a dismissive gesture, Cat disappeared back into the shadows of her office. Senju Tsunade threw back the rest of her sake before pushing up and away from her desk to go deal with the shinobi leading the running for 'Konoha's Worst Behaved and Least Cooperative Patient.'

oOo

Shikako marched towards Sasuke's apartment, the scroll responsible for this whole mess tucked in her vest and a barely perceptible tremor in her hands. Dodging through the late evening sea of shinobi and civilians on autopilot, she sorted through her mental checklist of potential future problems, firmly marking 'possible medical complications' and 'informing the Hokage' as done. If under the personal protection and attention of Senju Tsunade wasn't a safe place for a young Hatake Kakashi, then Shikako doubted there was any place safe in the whole of the Elemental Nations.

All that was needed to officially end this terrible mission was to hand over the requested summoning scroll to Sasuke. Catching two nin in one trap, Shikako needed to officially inform the head of the Uchiha Clan about the Hokage's request for records on clan security records and unofficially, she needed to let her village-bound teammate know what the security seals in his clan's compound had done to their sensei.

Shikako channeled her nervous energy into pounding on Sasuke's apartment door until an annoyed flare of chakra signaled her teammate's awareness of her demanding presence. Taking deep, calming breaths as she worked to smooth out the last of the nervous shaking in her hands and the tension thinning her lips as she felt Sasuke approach his front door and undo the locks and basic security seals. But as Sasuke snapped the door open, so did Shikako's calm composure when she felt the seal on his upper arm.

Most of Shikako's frustration funneled into a punch that shoved her teammate back into the entryway. She stomped forward into his apartment and kicked the door shut behind her, a frustrated snarl on her face.

"What the hell Sasuke?!" Shikako hissed, "Anbu? Really?"

Sasuke's widened eyes and surprise at her aggressive entry lasted only a few seconds.

"Good to see you too Shikako. You seem unusually stressed this evening." Sasuke intoned flatly, before pushing himself off the wall she had shoved him into. "Did sensei ditch you with the mission report?"

At the mention of their perpetually tardy teacher, Shikako stiffened and jerked her gaze away from her teammate. Sasuke reacted to her suddenly avoidant body language and switched to a mission ready posture and tone of voice, almost able to conceal his worry.

"Shikako. What happened?"

"Kakashi-sensei is in the hospital, he's not injured and Tsunade-sama is checking over him." Shikako answered quietly.

"What happened."

"He got hit with one of the security seals outside of the compound. The seal was really complicated, I was able to copy most of it down but I've never seen anything like it…" She trailed off. Sasuke reaching up and placing a hand on her shoulder leading her to look up and meet his eyes.

"The seal had some sort of de-aging effect on Kakashi-sensei; he looks and acts like he is about eight years old. And his memories match his age."

Sasuke's hand dropped off her shoulder and he took a step back, tension falling away from his frame.

"Not funny Shikako," he said, then rolled his eyes, "Was this revenge for the sneaking up thing?"

"I am not joking!" Shikako shot back hotly, "Tsunade-sama wants you to make a verbal report to her on the undocumented security measures for that compound within the next twenty-four hours."

"A seal that de-ages someone? Shikako, you can't be serious."

"This is all your fault Sasuke," Shikako hissed under her breath, her stress and worry at the current situation bubbling up and spilling out onto her teammate.

"My fault?" He responded, affronted.

"Your crazy paranoid relatives, your fault."

"You were the one who was there!"

"You were the reason we were there in the first place!"

"Well, maybe then we should just go ahead and pin all the blame on Naruto; since he isn't here to defend himself and this sounds like the kind of crazy stunt he would find hilarious," Sasuke said sarcastically.

Shikako snorted, "Maybe we should just blame our 'team luck'."

The tension between them now completely broken, Shikako leaned against the wall and gave off an air of being well and truly drained.

"And don't think I didn't notice that seal on your arm. When everything is less crazy, we're going to have words." Shikako sighed, brushing her bangs back from her face. "Tsunade-sama wants me to report to her again at the hospital. I don't know what's going to happen or what she's going to do with sensei, but I'll try to make morning practice tomorrow, ok?"

"Sure, I'll see about making it if I can," Sasuke paused and smirked, "Good luck with babysitting Kakashi-sensei."

Shikako let out a surprised snort before warning her teammate, "Don't ever let Kakashi-sensei hear you talk about 'babysitting,' I think at this age he would take it as an invitation to demonstrate his combat abilities."

Sasuke rolled his eyes as his kunoichi teammate waved goodbye and slipped away into the night.

oOo

Possibly Triggering Situations:

-Child soldiers

-Description of a character's mental and physical condition during a near panic attack

-Anticipation of punishment from military commander

-Anticipation of verbal dressing down from military commander

-Mental speculation about possible assassination of a minor

-Mental speculation about possible kidnapping of a minor

-Mental speculation about rogue black ops within home village

-Character flashback to previously traumatizing experience

-Pressuring gate guard into expediting entrance into village

-Anticipating bad luck due to superstition

-Mention of gambling

-Implying the taking blackmail photos under the guise of medical records

-Alcohol consumption

-Reference to canon suicide of Hatake Sakumo

-Discussion of the possibility of physical change and memory loss being permanent

-Mention of the loss of friendship due to memory loss

-Assignment of protection detail without informing the person being protected

-Knocking on someone's door to deliver bad news

-Punching a friend

-Bad news being disbelieved and taken as a joke

-Verbal argument between friends

If anyone can think of anything else to add to the content warnings or list of possibly triggering situations, feel free to contact me either through the pm system or (preferably) at my tumblr zoe324writes


End file.
